Monday
Monday
The Creation’s Worship
You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.
Revelation 4:11
We revert today to the two circles, inner and outer, that surround the throne of God. The outer circle is said to consist of twenty-four elders. The number twelve in the book of Revelation always stands for the church, and twenty-four is therefore a recognizable cipher for the church of both Testaments—the twelve patriarchs or tribal heads of the Old Testament and the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ in the New. Their white clothing and golden crowns indicated their righteousness and their authority.
The inner circle, however, surrounding the throne of God, consisted of four “living creatures.” They were “covered with eyes in front and in back” (expressing their ceaseless vigilance), and they resembled a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle (vv. 6–7), which represent, according to one commentator, “whatever is noblest, strongest, wisest and swiftest in animate nature.”
Day and night all nature never stops singing the praise of the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come, and as they do so, the twenty-four elders join in. Thus nature and church, the old creation and the new, unite in proclaiming God as worthy of worship because by his will all things were created and continue to have their being.
It is instructive to bring together the worship of Revelation 4 and of Revelation 5. In both, the elders and the living creatures combine. But the emphasis in chapter 4 is on creation (“by your will [all things] were created” [v. 11]), while the emphasis in chapter 5 is on redemption (“because … with your blood you purchased men for God” [v. 9]). Our Creator and Redeemer is doubly worthy of our worship.
As we take our leave of the heavenly choirs, we need to remember their anthems. We are called to anticipate on earth the God-centered life of heaven. We are to live our lives now in conscious relationship to the throne of God, until every thought, word, and deed comes under his rule.
For further reading: Revelation 4:6–11